(Yicai Global) Aug. 29 -- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, the biggest chipmaker in the Chinese mainland, reported a 19 percent leap in first-half profit after wafer prices and sales jumped, and said it plans to invest USD7.5 billion in a new 12-inch wafer foundry in Tianjin.

Net profit was CNY6.3 billion (USD903.8 million) in the six months ended June 30, versus CNY5.2 billion a year earlier, the Shanghai-based firm said in an earnings report published on Aug. 26. Revenue surged 53 percent to CNY24.6 billion (USD3.6 billion).

SMIC did not provide guidance for the rest of the year, but said demand from smartphone and manufacturers of other consumer electronics remains weak, structural shortages will be ongoing into next year, while sales to businesses in auto electronics, green energies, and industrial control systems continues to climb.

The end of this cycle depends on future economic trends, the pace of recovery in consumer demand, and inventory rundowns across sectors, SMIC said. But surging demand for integrated circuits and international regionalization will not abate, it said, adding that despite short-term adjustments, the long-term logic of local contract manufacturing will not change.

The global wafer shortfall has gone from being a comprehensive to being structural. The developing trends of segmented application scenarios indicate multi-polarization. Demand from maturer fields, including for phones and personal computers, is cooling, while merging areas such as the internet of things, data centers, artificial intelligence, and new energy vehicles, will demand higher production and greater tech innovation, according to SMIC.

To that end, the chipmaker also announced on Aug. 26 that it plans to invest USD7.5 billion in a new wafer plant in the northern city of Tianjin. SMIC, Xiqing Economic Development, and Xiqing Economic and Technological Development Area have inked a deal to make 100,000 12-inch wafer a month serving process nodes between 28 nanometres and 180 nm.

Shares of SMIC [SHA: 688981] fell 0.5 percent in Shanghai today to finish at CNY40.08 (USD5.79) each.

Editors: Xu Wei, Futura Costaglione